 Cavalcade's dam, Hastily, was sold in foal to Lancegaye at Newmarket in December 1930 and exported to Meadow View Farm near Morristown, New Jersey where she gave birth to Cavalcade the following spring.Cavalcade was sometimes described as being "English bred" but although he was conceived in Britain he was foaled in the United States, making him technically American-bred.In the early 1930s, Bob Smith, a trainer with a history of spotting talent, had been hired by heiress Isabel Dodge Sloane to stock her newly formed Brookmeade Stable.